BELLINGHAM, Wash. -
The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division's Academic Success Rate (ASR), which shows Western Washington University student-athletes maintaining their consistent standards and once again graduating at a rate well above the national average for NCAA Division II.

Using the NCAA Academic Success Rate, which includes all freshman student-athletes from the fall of 2006 and also accounts for student-athletes who transfer into or out of the institution, WWU posted an 84 percent success rate, 13 percentage points better than the NCAA II national number of 71 percent.

On the field, the Vikings are coming off the best calendar year performance in school history with four teams reaching the national semifinals, three other squads going to nationals and nine teams winning conference championships.

This is the eighth year the NCAA has released the ASR. The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was flawed. Division II's ASR data takes transfer students in account and removes students who left the institution in good academic standing. In addition, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 35,000 non-scholarship student-athletes.